• Eastern Wine Competition goes West

HEALDSBURG, CA — The annual International Eastern Wine Competition this year was held in the West. Go figure.

However, New York State wines did as well as ever in the event sponsored by Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine, with several “Best of Class” awards against a field of 1,100 wines.

The competition this year was conducted at Villa Chanticleer, a farming complex in California’s Russian River Valley that is part of the Santa Rosa Junior College, which trains many of California’s wine industry professionals. The site change, according to Jim Trezise of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, came about because “The New York wholesaler who received the competition wines all these years was unable to do so, for whatever reason, so this year alone a change in venue was required, and next year it will move back east.”